Battery laptop question?

[Guest lilbman]

I was getting 8+ hours on battery on my most conservative settings on my Alienware 15 R3 about two-three months ago.  Now I get 3 max.  Do I have to recalibrate it, or should I replace the battery?  

[JefferyD90]

2 minutes ago, lilbman said:

I was getting 8+ hours on battery on my most conservative settings on my Alienware 15 R3 about two-three months ago.  Now I get 3 max.  Do I have to recalibrate it, or should I replace the battery?  

Well, personally that sounds like there is more going on here than you realize.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Unless you have some applications draining the battery or you are using it more on high performance modes and away from the eletrical plug, i presume its time to do so, even tough its 20-21 months too early :/.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Just now, JefferyD90 said:

-snip-

[tlink]

changed any settings? plugged in any devices you didn't before? 

[Guest lilbman]

9 minutes ago, JefferyD90 said:

Well, personally that sounds like there is more going on here than you realize.

I keep it on battery saving mode with the CPU limited to 50%

[Guest lilbman]

8 minutes ago, tlink said:

changed any settings? plugged in any devices you didn't before? 

No not really.  Though once I put it in my bag in a hurry and it got really hot.  Think that could've screwed it up?

[JefferyD90]

3 minutes ago, lilbman said:

I keep it on battery saving mode with the CPU limited to 50%

Still sounds like there is more going on than you realize.

[tlink]

1 minute ago, lilbman said:

No not really.  Though once I put it in my bag in a hurry and it got really hot.  Think that could've screwed it up?

it can but i'm not really sure if that would lead to this effect. what can happen is that it broke thermal fuses on some of the battery cells resulting in some cells refusing to charge or discharge. i'm no expert in battery's so i honestly don't know if the battery's thermal fuses can be tripped by something like that.

[Guest lilbman]

Just now, tlink said:

it can but i'm not really sure if that would lead to this effect. what can happen is that it broke thermal fuses on some of the battery cells resulting in some cells refusing to charge or discharge. i'm no expert in battery's so i honestly don't know if the battery's thermal fuses can be tripped by something like that.

It didn't shut down though

[tlink]

1 minute ago, lilbman said:

It didn't shut down though

yea i know but battery's have a much lower max operating temperature than the laptop internal components I THINK. normally the heat can easily be absorbed in the abundance of air in the room, but in something like a bag it essentially becomes a heater which gradually fills up the whole chasis of the laptop with heat.

[Guest lilbman]

1 minute ago, JefferyD90 said:

Still sounds like there is more going on than you realize.

What could be the cause?

[Guest lilbman]

1 minute ago, tlink said:

yea i know but battery's have a much lower max operating temperature than the laptop internal components I THINK. normally the heat can easily be absorbed in the abundance of air in the room, but in something like a bag it essentially becomes a heater which gradually fills up the whole chasis of the laptop with heat.

That sounds logical.  After the bag incident(it was in the bag for all of two minutes) I never did get the same battery life.  Should I contact dell support and order a replacement battery to put it in myself?

[tlink]

4 minutes ago, lilbman said:

That sounds logical.  After the bag incident(it was in the bag for all of two minutes) I never did get the same battery life.  Should I contact dell support and order a replacement battery to put it in myself?

you're probably better of contacting them yourself if you decide to replace it. i still am not really sure if a laptop can even operate with some of its battery cells not functioning so my theory might be completely shit..

[JefferyD90]

8 minutes ago, lilbman said:

What could be the cause?

Anything from malware to drivers.

[Pendragon]

1 hour ago, lilbman said:

I was getting 8+ hours on battery on my most conservative settings on my Alienware 15 R3 about two-three months ago.  Now I get 3 max.  Do I have to recalibrate it, or should I replace the battery?  

Are you on power saver or high performance? Click your battery. Additional power settings, check if it's on high performance or not. Also tick the battery saver thing when you click on the battery icon on the bottom right hand side. Power Saver =/= Battery Saver. Both have to be on

 

Get a battery monitering software to see what is eating through your battery. Check maximum charge capacity and other metrics and determine if either you have too many programs eating into your battery, or if your battery simply is fucked and doesn't hold the same charge. 

[Guest lilbman]

5 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Are you on power saver or high performance? Click your battery. Additional power settings, check if it's on high performance or not. Also tick the battery saver thing when you click on the battery icon on the bottom right hand side. Power Saver =/= Battery Saver. Both have to be on

 

Get a battery monitering software to see what is eating through your battery. Check maximum charge capacity and other metrics and determine if either you have too many programs eating into your battery, or if your battery simply is fucked and doesn't hold the same charge. 

Ok, thanks

[Guest lilbman]

5 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Are you on power saver or high performance? Click your battery. Additional power settings, check if it's on high performance or not. Also tick the battery saver thing when you click on the battery icon on the bottom right hand side. Power Saver =/= Battery Saver. Both have to be on

 

Get a battery monitering software to see what is eating through your battery. Check maximum charge capacity and other metrics and determine if either you have too many programs eating into your battery, or if your battery simply is fucked and doesn't hold the same charge. 

Know of any good battery monitoring software?